Junior Triathlons

Portsmouth and Bowood Triathlons Race Reports

Last weekend saw a number of our young triathletes taking part In triathlons;

First up on Saturday 28th June was Lucy Draper who was taking part in the Bowood Triathlon, set in the picturesque ground of Bowood house Calne; taking part in the non drafting wave, she initially struggled with the open water swim, finding her wetsuit difficult to swim in, however once on dry land she found her speed and across the cycle and run sections came through the field to take 4th place.

Sunday 29th June was Portsmouth Triathlon: Before the kids would compete it was the dads turn to show the kids how it should be done, with Gavin McLaughlin and Sam Hart taking part in the first (over 40) wave. The swim was a real struggle with a really strong current for the return leg of the swim (so much that a fair few competitors had to rescued before they were swept under the pier), however both dads emerged in competitive positions with Gavin out in 4th and Sam out in 7th. Once out of the water they entered the pancake flat multi lap cycle route which, on closed roads, was a dream to ride and had both men speeding along with the encouragement of the kids (on the last lap) before setting fourth on the run. A swift-ish 5km later they had crossed the line with Gavin getting 3rd in the 45-49 age-group and Sam winning the 50-55 age-group. The winner of our race was world age-group champion in 2012.

Example set, it was the turn of the kids. The first race was T3 age-group with James McLaughlin and Sammy Hart competing, a great swim saw them emerging from the water in 5th and 3rd respectively, before a superb T1 from James meant he was first out onto the cycle, closely followed by Sammy. Unfortunately after the duo had built a good lead on the field a marshal sent them the wrong way, which meant all their good work was undone, they refused to give up and chased back through the cycle pack entering T2 in 2nd and 3rd place. James bad luck hadn’t finished though, as getting off his bike he found he had cut his foot open during T1, refusing to give up he battled round the run to finish in 5th. Sammy had set off with his usual fluid running style and by half way had chased down the lead runner, passing him he quickly built a commanding lead taking the win with style (and matching his Dad).

Next to enter the water was Charlie Hart and Holly Hutchins in the T2 race. It was Holly’s first open water swim but she put in an excellent swim coming out in 4th place, with Charlie slightly further back in 11th. Out onto the bike Charlie started to improve his position, while Holly found it a bit harder and dropped back couple of places. Coming into T2 both were going well and after some great runs Charlie had made it up to 8th place, while Holly had managed to fight back to 4th.

The final race for the Team Kennet athletes was for the T1s, Alex McLaughlin and Guy Hutchins were competing, buy now both were well used to the water having been in and out of the sea for the previous hour. Guy had a good first open water swim getting out of the water in 8th place, Alex with his best swim of the year just in front in 6th place. After the usual struggle to remove the wetsuits, they were off onto the cycle seemingly locking into their own private battle for the who would get back to T2 first, the competition certainly helped and by T2 they had closed on the others in front. Exiting T2 together, Alex pushed on and worked his way up in the run to finish in joint 4th place, Guy ran well to hold onto 7th place.

Guy and Holly are be doing the Portsmouth, Eaton Dorney and the Andover triathlon as a triple triathlon challenge to raising funds for Cancer Research in memory of Guy’s godmother. If you want to support them their website is https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/louisehutchins1

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